State has to fork it over

In a world that is not the best, we need visionaries with muscle. Sometimes they kiss babies. Sometimes they wear robes. When it comes to providing city school kids access to a "sound basic education," as the state Constitution requires, there must be vision and a will to see that through.
The starting point should be neither money nor politics. Albany has no plan, and, it appears, no intention to devise one any minute sooner than ordered to do so by the courts.

Mayor Bloomberg has a plan, but, according to critics, his is too specific and he has offered it too early.

For the life of me, I cannot see why Albany, meaning the governor and the legislators, and City Hall, meaning Bloomberg, the Department of Education and the City Council, cannot come up with a plan for providing a quality education in the city's school system.

Give him credit - at least the mayor offered a vision for transforming the schools with everything from prekindergarten programs to new middle schools to recruiting new teachers.

Albany just harrumphed. Gov. Pataki, state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver are being called upon to come up with billions over the next five years or so to make things right for the city's school kids. Pataki is willing to put up a "down payment" of $345 million, and he promises more to come. The others promise nothing.

Chief Judge Judith Kaye noted in her ruling on the city schools in June that " ... the political process allocates to city schools a share of state aid that does not bear a perceptible relation to the needs of city students."

That unfair situation is likely to prevail even if Pataki keeps his promises because his proposed increases fall far short of the $5.3 billion the mayor says the city needs to get the job done.

The state Court of Appeals ruled that the state government determine what is required to give every child access to a "sound basic education." Justice Leland DeGrasse of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan has responsibility for the case now, and he has made it clear he wants all sides to provide him with as many legal documents as possible before the July 30 deadline so the case can proceed as speedily as possible.

We'll discover just how serious Albany is by then, as Pataki, Silver and Bruno report the extent to which they have defined the contours of a "sound basic education" and implemented a plan.

New Jersey has been going through this process for about 30 years. Frustrated with the inaction of the Legislature, that state's top court back then ordered schools shut down until the lawmakers adopted a tax plan to finance the schools. In 1990, the court declared that parity was required between the wealthiest school districts and the poorest. It was still demanding that in 1997 and 2002 as politicians pleaded for more time and showed that they had come pretty far.

These matters can go on for decades - and still the intended goals are not met. New York City has had experience with courts practically running agencies. For more than 20 years, for example, a judge pretty much dictated how the shelter program for homeless families should be run. Not until early in the Bloomberg mayoralty did that case begin to get resolved.

In the best of all worlds, New York City's school system, with goals along the lines set out by Bloomberg, would receive an infusion of billions of dollars over a number of years to complement what the city does with its own budget choices.

The kids would obtain a sound basic education - mandated by the courts.

The city and its 1.1 million school kids stand ready and waiting for the state to share in the vision.

Originally published on April 4, 2004